CalgaryDancehall.com

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

One of Dancehall’s biggest breakthrough artistes and a slew of prominent female personalities can now boast award triumphs to start 2012 as the fifth annual Youth View Awards provided a bit of everything.

The popular event, dedicating to the acknowledgement of musical achievement from Jamaica’s youth, took place at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on Saturday night; hosted by Kruddy and Dancehall/Reggae singjay, Tami Chynn. Featuring several of the island’s biggest music industry personalities, the Youth View Awards proved a successful event with a pair of artistes walking away the night’s biggest winners.

Prominent Dancehall deejay, Tifa walked away as the night’s most decorated winner with five awards including, Favourite Female Dancehall artiste, Young, Hot and Hype Female as well as Female Artiste of the Year. Meanwhile, Portmore Empire sensation, Popcaan copped three awards as his breakthrough year in 2011 earned him honors such as Young, Hot and Hype Male as well as two awards dedicated to his sensational summer effort, Ravin’. The song earned Chart-topping Song of The Year and Summer Song of the Year.

Popcaan performed his award-winning hit, amongst others on the night while, Tifa, Wayne Marshall and Fambo graced the stage to perform their hit collaboration, Swaggin’.

Meanwhile, a few other Dancehall divas managed to walk away victorious on Saturday night as Pepita Little, the recently fired host of popular Television Jamaica (TVJ) show, Intense won the award for Media Personality of the Year. Additionally, Internationally-acclaimed dancer, Mystic Davis took home her third consecutive Female Dancer of the Year award.

Other notable winners from the fifth annual Youth View Awards included Shaggy, who won Role Model of the Year, Voicemail for Young, Hot and Hype Group of the Year, I-Octane for Best Cultural Artiste as well as Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall runner-up, Specialist for Breakout Celeb of the Year.

Currently incarcerated Dancehall superstar, Vybz Kartel repeated last year’s feat by winning the award for Male Dancehall Artiste of the Year while Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor won Producer of the Year.

The life of Jamaica's greatest ever musician will be encapsulated in film for the first time ever for the world to see later this month.

On Monday, which would have been Marley's 67th birthday, it was announced by his family that the first ever documentary on the legendary singer's life, entitled Marley, will premiere later this month at the 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival. Marley was directed by Academy Award winning director, Kevin MacDonald. Additionally, the movie was produced by Magnolia Pictures and executive produced by Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell as well as Bob Marley's eldest son and fellow Reggae artiste, Ziggy Marley.

According to Ziggy Marley, this documentary will take an in-depth look into Bob Marley's life as a musician, father and social activist.

"This documentary is the ultimate revelation of my father's life," Marley said in a statement."The family is proud to be able to have the world finally experience this emotional journey."The documentary will showcase never before seen footage of Bob Marley, interviews with family, friends and band mates from The Wailers as well as archival pictures.

Magnolia Pictures president, Eamonn Bowles insists that this film will tell an eloquent story of the Reggae legend's life; insisting that Marley hails as a fitting biography that the prominent Jamaican singer has long deserved.

"Bob Marley is a fascinating, towering figure in musical history, and 'Marley' is the biography that he deserves," Bowles said.

"Kevin Macdonald has once again shown himself to be a master documentarian with this eye-opening, entertaining, beautifully crafted film."Marley will debut in North America at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March and will premiere across North American theaters this April. The popular American television station, VH1 has officially licensed the documentary through their Emmy Award winning Rock Docs imprint.

Thirty-one years after his death, the music industry is still, rightfully, paying respect to the impact of reggae legend Bob Marley.

Yesterday marked his 67th birthday and apart from the all-day birthday celebrations at the 56 Old Hope Road Bob Marley Museum, there has been much made of paying tribute to the man, again, rightfully so.

On Saturday, LIME sponsored a Trench Town concert that ended in the wee hours of the morning at the Vin Lawrence Park in the St Andrew community.

As is now customary, the Marley family came together to close that show. Not before, however, Mr Myers, Brian Gold, Aaron Silk, Tinga Stewart, Nesbeth, Christopher Ellis, T.O.K., Romain Virgo, Wayne Marshall, Bugle, Fambo, Bounty Killer, Protoje, Popcaan, Junior Reid, Jah Cure, Capleton and Tarrus Riley paid their respects to the legend.

The following day, Sunday, Digicel, did the same.

They too had a slew of artistes who were not shy in declaring the importance of Marley.

Virgo was again present, as were Uprising Roots, Chronixx, Alaine, Protoje, Jermaine Edwards, and Judy Mowatt.

All accredited themselves well.

Yesterday, the party started early. At 5 a.m. the sounds of Nyahbingi drumming were already piercing the air, before the Ethiopian Orthodox Church blessed the place Bob once called home.

Bob's 67th birthday cake was cut and at press time a jam session in honour of the legend was threatening to go until morning.

The intelligencia was not to be left out either, as yesterday The University of Technology unveiled a sculpture depicting the late reggae icon at its Papine campus in St Andrew.

The piece, which has been erected in the institution's Caribbean Sculpture Park, was designed by Russian sculptor Gregory Pototsky and presented as a gift to the institution and to Jamaica.

A second sculpture, dubbed: 'People's Organism', designed by Jamaican artist and Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts alumnus Warren Buckle was also unveiled.

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in Nine Miles, St Ann, and died on May 11, 1981, in Miami, United States.

It is the predominantly roots reggae Island/Tuff Gong albums which have made Marley a legend, even though he started with ska. After Catch A Fire came Burnin (1973), Natty Dread (1974), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), Survival (1979), Uprising (1980) and Confrontation (1983). Live! (1975) and Babylon By Bus (1978) are the official live sets of the 1970s.

Legend, released in 1984, is a 'best of' Marley compilation which officially went diamond in 2009, 18 years after Nielsen SoundScan officially started tracking sales. It was the 17th album to officially move 10 million units.

Now, for the week of February 11, Marley father and son are in the Billboard top five reggae albums, Stephen at three with Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life, and Bob at number four with Live Forever.

Internationally-acclaimed Dancehall superstar, Oneil Bryan, more popularly known as Elephant Man continues to speak out against strong allegations that could harm his accomplished career.

On January 30, the prominent deejay was slapped with rape and sexual assault charges stemming from an alleged incident the week prior, involving a 38 year old woman at Elephant Man’s St. Andrew home. Following two days of an international media blitz, the self-professed “Energy God” appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrates Court this past Wednesday, where he received JA$400,000 bail and was issued a May 21 court date in the matter.

Following the hearing, Elephant Man spoke outside the court; insisting that he’d never do anything of such a nature to hurt his fans worldwide.

The song, a sequel to the very popular Feel A Way done by both artistes during their tenure on the Gaza, is expected to create a buzz within various entertainment sectors.

It's understood the single is a part of a compilation due for release very soon on the Romeich Records label.

According to Ryno in a release sent to THE WEEKEND STAR, "this is something that people have been waiting to see for some time now, and me and Jah have always had a musical chemistry from then. So the link was made and the rest is history."

Prior to the collaboration, the two also shared the stage at last year's Hot FM Lovefest in St Lucia and the much-publicised Sting 2011 at Jam World, Portmore. Last week Ryno, real name Romane Anderson, also teamed up with Marcus Myrie, son of incarcerated reggae superstar Buju Banton, to release his first official single for 2012 titled Diss Me And Fled on the Fifth Gear rhythm.

Meanwhile, his soca-influenced composition Whine Me is featured on the Hapilos International Certified Boomshot Volume 1. Both compilations are available on iTunes and other digital platforms.